Arlington selectman has two IRS tax liens

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The Internal Revenue Service has issued two tax liens totaling more than $180,000 on the property of longtime Arlington selectman and current chairman Kevin Greeley.

When they were filed in the Middlesex South Registry of Deeds office in March and October 2012, the liens were for $96,470 in unpaid individual income taxes for 2010 and $87,144 in unpaid taxes for 2011.

Greeley said Friday that he is embarrassed about the back taxes, but he said he has had health problems for several years, including three major surgeries in the past two years.

The 62-year-old selectman is up for reelection this year, and he said he has been working with the IRS to pay off his back taxes and late penalties, including $27,500 in payments in the past three months.

“I have a payment plan, and I’m current on that payment plan,” he said.

Peggy Riley, a spokeswoman for the Internal Revenue Service in New England, said that for privacy reasons she could not disclose any information about the liens beyond the information filed with the county.

Riley said that even if a person has made payments toward a lien, the IRS does not release tax liens on property until the full amount has been paid. She said the IRS places liens on property as part of its collection process if, after sending a series of notices to a taxpayer regarding overdue payments, the notices are not answered and the payments are not settled.

Greeley is the founder of Boston-based Greeley Communications Inc. He said that in the past two years he has had knee-replacement surgery, lower back surgery, and neck surgery.

The Globe obtained copies of the two federal liens after receiving an anonymous tip.

Greeley has been a selectman for 24 years in Arlington, and he said that if he is reelected this April it would set the record for the longest-serving selectman in the town.

No one has announced a bid to run against him this year, but Greeley said he thinks the anonymous tip received by the Globe shows that opposition is brewing.

“In my opinion, they just don’t want me to run again for selectman,” he said.

The deadline for candidates to take out papers to run for the selectman seat is Feb. 14.